Ex-Barclays trader says he was worried he would lose his job if he didn’t lie

Jonathan Mathew, one of five former Barclays Plc employees accused of manipulating Libor, says he was pressured by his boss to lie about complying with requests from other traders to manipulate the benchmark rate.

"I felt absolutely awful," Mathew said Friday. "I was worried I would lose my job if I didn’t" lie.

Prosecutors say that Mathew and four of his colleagues conspired to rig the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark tied to trillions of dollars in securities and loans. Jurors were told earlier this week that Johnson pleaded guilty to rigging Libor in 2012.